Bradley has clean shot to CBI finals

Bradley vs. Virginia game story for March 27, a semifinal game in the College Basketball Invitational

Dave Reynolds

At halftime Wednesday night against Virginia, the first thing Bradley guard Jeremy Crouch did when he came into the locker room at John Paul Jones Arena was wash his hands.

“I didn’t shoot it very well the first half so I went in, cleaned it all off and started fresh,” he said of his 0-for-7 showing from 3-point range.

It must have worked.

Crouch hit his first five 3-point attempts in the second half, the third putting BU ahead to stay in a stunning 96-85 thumping of the Atlantic Coast Conference Cavaliers in a College Basketball Invitational semifinal round game.

The Pekin native finished with 27 points, 21 in the final period.

“It feels good to come in and beat an ACC team, any ACC team,” said center Matt Salley, who posted a double-double, 11 points and 10 rebounds. “To do it on their home floor is a big accomplishment.”

The victory gave BU 20 wins for the third year in a row and launched the Braves into the championship series of this inaugural tournament against old Missouri Valley Conference rival Tulsa, which defeated Houston 73-69.

As the lower seed, the Braves (20-15) will go on the road to Donald Reynolds Center in Tulsa for the series opener Monday night. The final game this season at Carver Arena will be Game 2 on Wednesday night.

If necessary, a third and deciding game will be played Friday night in Tulsa.

“We all knew in the back of our minds this was a good basketball team if we could get everybody back on the floor and healthy,” said BU coach Jim Les. “We thought, ‘Let’s fulfill what we all think. This tournament has a champion and we’re looking to win it.’’’

In the first 11 minutes before a lively crowd of 5,852 Monday, it looked much more like the Braves would be ending their season in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The bigger Cavaliers (17-16), who ranked third in the ACC in rebounding this season, were having their way inside and out. They stormed to a 30-16 lead with 8:50 left in the half when all-American guard Sean Singletary drove the lane and scored.

Les called time.

“I told the guys, ‘We’re down 14, we got ’em right where we want ’em,’’’ he said. “That’s usually where we’re at in the first half and they’re very comfortable playing from behind.”

In no time, that comfort level surfaced.

Daniel Ruffin, who missed several of those falling-behind minutes when he picked up two early fouls, started it when he stole the ball from Singletary and hit a 3-pointer in transition.

After a UVa miss, Ruffin buried another trey, slicing the deficit to eight.

“When we get behind, we get motivated that somebody’s going to give us a spark,” Ruffin said. “It’s always somebody different. Tonight it was me hitting those 3s.”

The spark became a full-fledged bonfire real quickly. When David Collins finished a layup at 5:44, the Braves had a 31-30 lead, scoring 15 unanswered points in just 2:33.

“We didn’t sustain our energy,” said Singletary. “They came back and threw a couple of punches of their own and we didn’t respond well.”

The game stayed close the rest of the half. When Crouch led the Braves off the floor for some intermission ablution, the score was tied at 42.

Virginia struck first to open the second half, scoring five quick points.

But led by Crouch, Bradley came back, tying it five times in the next seven minutes, the last when he found Salley for a layup and one.

On the Braves’ next possession, Crouch bagged a 3-pointer from the right wing to start an 11-0 run. By 9:14, it was 69-58 Bradley. Virginia called time and the crowd was mum except for the small band of red-clad supporters behind the BU bench, led by president Dr. Joanne Glasser.

“Our defensive presence and attitude have not been there with any level of consistency,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao. “Bradley shot 48 percent, but we caused a lot of that.”

Still, the Braves had to finish the game. And they did so with style, building the advantage to 80-63 on an Andrew Warren baseline drive at 4:53.

The Cavaliers came back, but couldn’t get their deficit into single digits as BU finished the last two minutes sinking 10 of 13 free throws.

“This means a lot, mostly that I can put this jersey on again and go home and play again,” Crouch said, “The ACC is a great conference. This is a great school, a great team. We had a lot of respect for Virginia. We were looking forward to this one and having some fun tonight.”

And having some more fun for one more week.

BRAVES BRIEFS: Season ticket-holders can buy tickets for Wednesday’s home game against Tulsa beginning today and Friday from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. at the Shea Stadium box office. The general public can begin buying tickets on TicketMaster at 7 p.m. Friday. The Shea Stadium ticket office will be open again Monday through Wednesday for all ticket buyers. Do not go to Robertson Field House for tickets because nobody will be there. ... Bradley will offer a bus trip to Monday’s game at Tulsa. The bus will depart Monday morning from Shea Stadium. More details will be announced in the coming days.

Dave Reynolds can be reached at 686-3210 or at dreynolds@pjstar.com.

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